It runs independently of internet and power. One use case is a group of people in a remote area (hikers, hunters) carrying their own node and being able to communicate via text over several kilometres.
It runs independently of internet and power. One use case is a group of people in a remote area (hikers, hunters) carrying their own node and being able to communicate via text over several kilometres.
Or you just use iPhone satellite messaging without relying on extra devices that may not even work in mountains
You can use both. In the mountains I would appreciate redundancy.
This won't reliably get messages between two users in the mountains.
Neither will Meshtastic!
A PMR or DMR radio can also do that. And is cheaper and user friendlier.
DMR without needing the site to setup your ID etc?
might have mixed it up with dPMR, HAMs have lots of overlapping similar stuff... and love gatekeeping.
Nevertheless IMO the mentioned demographics/use-cases want something turnkey ready, ~single button, and currently LORA based stuff is not like that, and is clumsier and needs a certain level of... tinkerer mindset, compared to a commercial license free radio system (which might have been set up with a minimal effort), where learning curve is basically volume knob and PTT button.
I have handed out simple FM radios for total tech-illiterate people (mothers, children, elderly physical workers) in an outdoor event with 0 cell coverage, and comms worked perfectly over the dozen square kilometer area. Biggest incident was a lost radio handset.
v. a satellite enabled phone that can send text messages over thousands of kilometers?
These people should not be making a short range text solution, they should be building a low bandwidth internet extension with gateways to the real internet. Most of the information content of the internet can readily fit over 56kb lines once you strip out all the fluff. And in an emergency where you need or want a decentralized mesh network, that's more important that being able to text, who exactly?